For the last several years, the Bay Area has been part of an international movement to stop the expansion of the tar sands. We’ve supported efforts led by Indigenous peoples across North America against Keystone XL, Line 3, Energy East, and Kinder Morgan. All of these projects would dramatically increase the amount of dirty oil extracted, transported, and burned around the world. These tar sands projects impact all of us — and now it’s time to fight against this expansion in our own backyard.

2017 was a year of drought and fires for the Bay Area and much of California. Already, we’re seeing the real impacts that climate change creates for our communities — from burned homes, losss of agricultural land, job loss, and mass displacement in an area where we’re already facing extremely high cost of living.

If we’re going to truly address this climate crisis, we must demand that our local decision makers reject all new oil, gas, and coal projects, and move rapidly to a just and equitable 100% renewable energy future.

Presenters include:
• Four women from Empower
• Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes

Hosted by the US PROStitutes Collective

Empower Foundation is a sex workers’ collective in Thailand which for 30 years has been promoting rights and opportunities for sex workers, especially access to education, health and legal advocacy. Over the years 50,000 sex workers have passed through their doors including migrant women from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam.

The English Collective of Prostitutes is a UK based group, founded in 1975, which helps sex workers defend themselves against unjust charges and spearheads campaigns for decriminalization, safety and for resources so that sex workers can leave sex work if and when they want.

US PROStitutes Collective is a Bay Area based organization, founded in 1982, which won parity for sex workers in compensation claims and with others got policies establishing immunity from arrest for sex workers reporting violence.

This is a unique opportunity to hear directly from sex workers as well as from grassroots women in the Global South who are organizing for survival across different sectors of society.

We’ve all seen the video! How is it that BART police officer Joseph Mateu has not already been charged with the murder of Sahleem Tindle, after he shot the 28 year old in the back three times? OPD is responsible for the investigation of this murder, since it happened outside of BART property, across from West Oakland BART. Join us to demand that OPD do their job and charge Mateu for murder. Arrest him now!

Sahleem Tindle was murdered by BART Police Officer Joseph Mateu on January 3, 2018. He is now back on the job, after only a two week leave. The family demands: fire, arrest, charge and prosecute Joseph Mateu!

Angela Davis says, “Sunaina Maira locates contemporary BDS activism and the considerable efforts to expand the academic boycott of Israel …to movements for racial, gender and economic equality…In deftly demonstrating that Palestinian solidarity belongs at the center of all our social justice concerns, “Boycott!” both exemplifies the challenge and urges us to fearlessly rise up to it.”

Please join us from 6 to 7 PM at the west entrance to El Cerrito Plaza, intersection of San Pablo Ave & Carlson Ave. We’ll meet on the side nearest to Daiso.

The ECSU goals are to create a significant community presence to speak out in favor of equality, justice, inclusiveness and more. We say NO to hatred, racism, white supremacy and nationalism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism.

You can bring your own sign with your own words expressing what you stand for and against. Use BIG lettering so people in cars can see! We’ll also have some sign-making materials.

We’re from the El Cerrito area. Our Show Up location is at the borders of El Cerrito, Richmond and Albany — all are welcome!

We will assemble lawfully, and won’t block the sidewalk. All locations we select will be wheelchair-accessible. To participate you must commit to non-violent and respectful conduct. Family-friendly.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay.

We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body cameras and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment. This month Oakland Privacy will be preparing for the passage of transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and kicking off new processes in Richmond and Alameda County, To help slow down the encroaching police state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

A BENEFIT for CIVIC (Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement) featuring David Rovics

David Rovics was born in New York City, and as a guitar-slinging singer/songwriter now based in Portland, Oregon, has toured in over two dozen countries, including at mass protests throughout North America and Europe.

When President Bush came to Berlin in 2002, David entertained the 100,000 or so folks who came to protest, and at the TTIP protest in Berlin in 2015, he sang for 250,000. He was also a featured performer at the G8 protests in Rostock in 2007, the G8 protests in Scotland in 2005, the G20 in Pittsburgh in 2009 and the G20 in Toronto the following year. Other countries where David has played at protests for thousands of people include England, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and Japan.

In addition to his musical involvement with the anti-capitalist movement, labor, environmental and anti-war movements internationally, he has shared the stage on a number of occasions with Tom Morello, founder of Rage Against the Machine, who also recorded a lead guitar track on David’s 2012 album, Meanwhile In Afghanistan. He has also shared the stage with Billy Bragg, Chumbawumba, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger, and has toured extensively with Attila the Stockbroker, Robb Johnson, Anne Feeney, Tracey Curtis and Alistair Hulett.

CIVIC
Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) is the national immigration detention visitation network, which is working to end U.S. immigration detention by monitoring human rights abuses, elevating stories, building community-based alternatives to detention, and advocating for system change. Locally, CIVIC volunteers visit immigration detainees at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, and work in collaboration with the detainees to monitor conditions, educate legislators and the public, and change policy.

Tickets are $15 general admission, and $10 for Students with ID. Advance tickets are available at the link below, or you may purchase your tickets at the door the night of the show. Doors open one half hour before show time. We accept cash only at the door (ATMs are nearby).

The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own adult beverage with no additional corkage fee. If you need more information or have any questions, please call us: #510-654-3808. Thank you for your support!

Not one more. We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives.

March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now.

On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington, DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority. The collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard.

School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues. No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.

Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard.

This event information comes from the California Coalition for Women’s Prisoners:

Join CCWP for the Drop LWOP Town Hall

In the past six months six women have had their Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences commuted by the Governor. At the end of January 2018 two of these women were found suitable for parole and will soon be free. This victory illustrates how the Drop LWOP Campaign and A Living Chance project are creating a foundation for the commutation of all people sentenced to LWOP and the elimination of LWOP from the penal code altogether.

At the Drop LWOP Town Hall you will

learn updates about the Drop LWOP campaign

hear audio from A Living Chance Storytelling to End Life Without Parole

engage with a panel of formerly incarcerated women, including survivors of the life without parole sentence

learn how you can get involved

Featuring food from Mamacitas Cafe, a raffle and items for sale made by people living inside women’s prisons.

Join us for our March All Member Meeting. This special California-themed meeting features speakers from the Alameda County Food Bank and Evolve California, the Prop 13 reform initiative. Plus, we will have our usual updates and breakouts with current calls to action and upcoming events. Please come and bring a friend!

A man finds himself living among the animals and enchanted spirits of the rainforest, and learns of the true consequences of human destruction in this animated adventure. Crysta (voice of Samantha Mathis) is a young fairy who is being tutored in the powers of magic by the older and wiser Magi (voice of Grace Zabriskie) in an Amazon rain forest. Their home is on the verge of destruction and they must figure out how to save it.

The last Sunday of every month attendees of the OO GA get together a little earlier than usual, at 2 PM (3 PM during Daily Slaving Time) to share some food with each other and the community. There should be a table, utensils/plates, meat and veggie entrees and whatnot, courtesy of the Kitchen Committee (such at he is), so just bring yourself, or something to share as well if you’d like.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at the Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway in the amphitheater. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. During the cooler months we meet at 3 PM at the plaza.The OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for more than five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally . Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

Welcome & Introductions

Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations

Announcements

(Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 4 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall. If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph. If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 4:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland. (Note: we tend to meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months from November to early March after Daylights Savings Time.)

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 3 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over six years, since October 2011! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

We document current events, make films together, steward an editing suite and share a film equipment library. We also host film screenings, often with local directors, and put on an annual short film festival for independent Bay Area filmmakers. Our goal is to make the digital filmmaking accessible – no overpriced college degree or certificate program required!

We are also a good group to reach out to if you’d like to screen a film at the Omni. We can be reached at [ liberatedlens@lists.riseup.net ].

Join the Stop Urban Shield Coalition at the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting, where they will be voting on the Sheriff’s request to fund Urban Shield 2018. We are organizing to ensure they say NO! We want real, community-based preparedness for emergencies. Police militarization is not the answer.

We recently learned that Sheriff Ahern hosted ICE at the 2017 Urban Shield! We must turn out all our communities for this crucial vote. Alameda County must resist this blatant collusion with the horrific Trump and Sessions administration, and need to act on ending the racist tactics, and technologies being spread by Urban Shield.

It has only become clearer that Urban Shield does not provide disaster preparedness for the Bay Area. At the most recent Board meeting where AC Supervisors heard back from the Task Force assigned to evaluate Urban Shield, Sheriff Ahern demonstrated open disregard for the terms put in place by the Board to curb some of the programâ€™s blatant racism and violence. Urban Shield clearly can not be reformed and must be defunded.

Take Action! Here’s how you can help.
Stop Urban Shield:

1) Come out on Tuesday, March 27th for our rally and press conference, and plan to stay so we pack the room during the Board of Supervisors vote on Urban Shield. The Board meeting starts at 11am and will likely go for a few hours. Please plan to stay a while or come late in order to make public comment if you can’t arrive by 10am.

2) Call and email the Board of Supervisors on Monday, March 26th. Here’s a sample script and their contact information that you can use:

Dear Supervisor _________, I am calling to urge you and your fellow Supervisors to take leadership in putting an end to the harmful and controversial Urban Shield program in Alameda County. On Tuesday, March 27th, you will be asked to decide whether to authorize funding for the Sheriff to hold Urban Shield in 2018.. By rejecting this, Alameda County can be a leader in prioritizing true community preparedness that is not based on fear and militarization. Despite your guidelines and community concerns, Sheriff Ahern has repeatedly demonstrated complete disregard for very serious concerns, most recently shown when he hosted both ICE and the Oath Keepers at last year’s Urban Shield. I urge you to take action by saying no to the authorization of any funding for Urban Shield. Thank you.

This movie tells the inspiring story of how the Richmond community organized to defeat Chevron’s candidate for mayor in the 2014 election. Chevron spent more than $3 million on the election but the grassroots campaign won the mayor’s office and a majority on the city council.

The film was featured in film festivals including the Woodstock and Santa Cruz film festivals
Followed by a panel discussion:
Moderator: John Sepulvedo, host of KQED California Report
Panelists: Jovanka Beckles, Richmond City Council member and candidate for the California Assembly 15th district,
Andres Soto, Richmond organizer, Communities for a Better Environment

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